different between straight vs uniform

English

Alternative forms

• streight (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English streight, streght, strei?t, the past participle of strecchen (“to stretch”), from Old English stre??an (past participle ?estreaht, ?estreht), from Proto-West Germanic *strakkjan (“to stretch”). Doublet of straught.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /st?e?t/
• Rhymes: -e?t
• Homophone: strait

Adjective

straight (comparative straighter, superlative straightest)

1. Not crooked or bent; having a constant direction throughout its length. [from 14^thc.]
   • 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility:

     I do not like crooked, twisted, blasted trees. I admire them much more if they are tall, straight and flourishing.

   • “Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better. […]”

   • 2011, Adharanand Finn, The Guardian, 22 March:

     The other people, I presume, are supposed to be standing to attention, but they're all smiling at me. The lines are not even straight.

2. (of a path, trajectory, etc.) Direct, undeviating. [from 15^thc.]
   • 1913, John Fox, Jr., The Kentuckians, page 185:

     Now, as the world knows, the straightest way to the heart of the honest voter is through the women of the land, and the straightest way to the heart of the women is through the children of the land; and one method of winning both, with rural politicians, is to kiss the babies wide and far.
3. Perfectly horizontal or vertical; not diagonal or oblique. [from 17^thc.]
   • 1925, United States House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee No. 1, Charges Against William E. Baker, U.S. District Judge:

     Mr. Coniff: He did not have his hat on straight; that is the one thing, is it?
4. (cricket) Describing the bat as held so as not to incline to either side; on, or near a line running between the two wickets. [from 19^thc.]
   • 2011 March 15, Alan Gardner & Barney Ronay, The Guardian:

     Steyn continues and it's all a bit more orderly down his end as O'Brien defends the first three balls with a straight bat and a respectful dip of the head.

5. Direct in communication; unevasive, straightforward. [from 19^thc.]
   • 2003, Rosie Cowan, The Guardian, 24 April:

     Tony Blair issued a direct challenge to the IRA yesterday when he demanded they give straight answers to three simple questions […].
6. Free from dishonesty; honest, law-abiding. [from 16th c.]
   • 1879, Anthony Trollope, John Caldigate:

     ‘It wasn't the proper thing, squoire. It wasn't straight.’

   • 2010 August 4, The Guardian, Out of prison and trying to go straight [2]:

     How easy is it to go straight after a life spent in and out of prison?

7. Serious rather than comedic.
   • 1988, Ed Gould, Entertaining Canadians: Canada's international stars, 1900-1988, Cappis Pr Pub Ltd (?ISBN):

     Allan Blye, a CBC-TV mainstay in the early Sixties, worked as a singer, writer and straight and comedic actor.

   • 2004, Tammy Ravas, Peter Schickele: A Bio-bibliography, Greenwood Publishing Group (?ISBN):

     All of Peter Schickele's music, both straight and comedic are integrated side by side in this chapter.

   • 2005, Bob McCabe, The Rough Guide to Comedy Movies, Rough Guides Limited:

     More success followed, both straight and comedic, with hits such as Dead Poets' Society (1989), in which Williams scored another Oscar nomination for skilfully handling a classic "rogue teacher" role that hovers just this side of sentimentality, […]

8. In proper order; as it should be. [from 19^thc.]
   • 2010, Paul Gallagher, The Observer, 15 August:

     "If you wonder why folks can't take the news seriously, here's Exhibit A," said one blogger. "Lord Jesus, how can the reporter file this story with a straight face?"

9. In a row, in unbroken sequence; consecutive. [from 19^thc.]
   • 2008, "Bad vibrations", The Economist, 30 October:

     As of October 29th, three-month dollar Libor (the rate at which banks borrow from each other) had fallen for 13 straight days and was nearly one-and-a-half percentage points below its October 10th level.

10. (tennis) Describing the sets in a match of which the winner did not lose a single set. [from 19^thc.]
    • 2011 February 10, Press Association:

      Murray started well against Marcos Baghdatis before slumping to defeat in straight sets and the British No1 admitted he may not have been mentally prepared for the rigours of the ATP Tour after a gruelling start to 2011.

11. (US, politics) Making no exceptions or deviations in one's support of the organization and candidates of a political party.

12. (US, politics) Containing the names of all the regularly nominated candidates of a party and no others.

13. (colloquial) Conventional, mainstream, socially acceptable. [from 20^thc.]
    • 1998, Eileen Fitzpatrick & Dominic Pride, Billboard, 17 October 1998:

      ‘Her last album was a bit too straight,’ he says, ‘but this one puts her in a more contemporary framework and softens her music.’
14. (colloquial) Heterosexual, attracted to people of the opposite sex.
    • 2007, Layla Kumari, The Guardian, 17 September:

      Some of my friends – gay and straight – seem unable to understand the close but platonic nature of my and Gian's relationship, but have been supportive.
15. (colloquial, of a romantic or sexual relation) Occurring between people of opposite sex.

    straight marriage, sex, relationships

16. (colloquial) Not using alcohol, drugs, etc. [from 20^thc.]

    Synonym: straightedge

    • 1989, Gus Van Sant, Drugstore Cowboy:

      For all the boredom the straight life brings, it's not too bad.
17. (fashion) Not plus size; thin.

18. (rare, now chiefly religion) Strait; narrow.
19. (obsolete) Stretched out; fully extended. [15^th-16^thc.]
20. (slang) Thorough; utter; unqualified.
    • 2012, Pimpin' Ken, PIMPOLOGY: The 48 Laws of the Game, page 11:

      A real pimp is a gentleman, but these are pimps in gorilla suits. They hang around pimps, they have hoes on the track working for them, they may even look like pimps, but they are straight simps.

21. Of spirits: undiluted, unmixed; neat. [from 19^thc.]
22. (sciences, mathematics) Concerning the property allowing the parallel-transport of vectors along a course that keeps tangent vectors remain tangent vectors throughout that course (a course which is straight, a straight curve, is a geodesic).

Antonyms

• bent
• crooked
• curved

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ?????

Translations

Adverb

straight (comparative more straight, superlative most straight)

1. Of a direction relative to the subject, precisely; as if following a direct line.

   The door will be straight ahead of you.

   Go straight back.

2. Directly; without pause, delay or detour.

   On arriving at work, he went straight to his office.

   • I know thy generous temper well; / Fling but the appearance of dishonour on it, / It straight takes fire, and mounts into a blaze.

3. Continuously; without interruption or pause.

   He claims he can hold his breath for three minutes straight.

Translations

Noun

straight (plural straights)

1. Something that is not crooked or bent such as a part of a road or track.
2. (poker) Five cards in sequence.
3. (colloquial) A heterosexual.

   Synonyms: hetero, breeder

4. (slang) A normal person; someone in mainstream society.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:mainstreamer
5. (slang) A cigarette, particularly one containing tobacco instead of marijuana. [from 20th c.]

   Synonym: straighter

   • [1923, J[oseph] Manchon, Le slang : lexique de l'anglais familier et vulgaire : précédé d'une étude sur la pronunciation et la grammaire populaires, p. 296:

     A straight = a straighter = a straight cut, une cigarette en tabac de Virginie.]

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ????? (sutor?to)
• ? Portuguese: straight

Translations

Verb

straight (third-person singular simple present straights, present participle straighting, simple past and past participle straighted)

1. (transitive) To straighten.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of A. Smith to this entry?)

See also

Portuguese

Etymology

From English straight.

Noun

straight m (plural straights)

1. (poker) straight (five cards in sequence)

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French uniforme, from Latin uniformis.

Pronunciation

• (US) enPR: yo?o?n?-fôrm, IPA^(key): /?jun??f??m/, /?jun?f?m/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /?ju?n?f??m/
• Hyphenation: uni?form
• Rhymes: -??(r)m

Adjective

uniform (comparative more uniform, superlative most uniform)

1. Unvarying; all the same.
2. Consistent; conforming to one standard.
   • 1593, Richard Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, in 1830, The Ecclesiastical Polity and Other Works of Richard Hooker, page 313,

     The only doubt is, about the manner of their unity; how far Churches are bound to be uniform in their Ceremonies, and what way they ought to take for that purpose.

3. (mathematics) with speed of convergence not depending on choice of function argument; as in uniform continuity, uniform convergence
4. (chemistry, of a polymer) Composed of a single macromolecular species.
5. (geometry) (of a polyhedron) That is isogonal and whose faces are regular polygons; (of an n-dimensional (n>3) polytope) that is isogonal and whose bounding (n-1)-dimensional facets are uniform polytopes.

Usage notes

• As a description of polymers, the IUPAC prefers the term uniform to monodisperse.

Synonyms

• (unvarying): regular, stable; see also Thesaurus:steady
• (all the same): invariable, of a piece; see also Thesaurus:homogeneous

Antonyms

• nonuniform

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

uniform (plural uniforms)

1. A distinctive outfit that serves to identify members of a group.
   • 1932, Elmer Wheeler, Tested Selling Sentences (the Language of the Brain): Master Book

     The Hooverette [housedress] can be worn as a dress or as an apron.

     This is the latest in uniforms, madam, according to Vogue.

   • F. W. Robertson

     There are many things which a soldier will do in his plain clothes which he scorns to do in his uniform.
2. Uniform, the letter U in the ICAO spelling alphabet
3. A uniformed police officer (as opposed to a detective).
   • 1996, S. J. Rozan, Concourse,^[2] Macmillan, ?ISBN, page 265,

     Skeletor held the gun against Speedo’s head, held Speedo between himself and the cops who stood, motionless and futile, where they’d stopped. Robinson, Lindfors, Carter, three uniforms and I watched helpless as Skeletor, dragging Speedy with him, inched out the gate, started backing down the hill.

   • 2001, Christine Wiltz, The Last Madam: A Life in the New Orleans Underworld,^[3] Da Capo Press, ?ISBN, page 113,

     Four men flew out of it, three uniforms and one in what appeared to be an English riding outfit—boots, whip, the whole nine yards. […] He called out, “I’m the superintendent of police.”

   • 2004, Will Christopher Baer, Penny Dreadful,^[4] MacAdam/Cage Publishing, ?ISBN, page 81,

     Eyes to the front now and there was the body, a lump of black and brown. Moon counted three uniforms and a photographer, the medical examiner and his assistant.

Translations

Verb

uniform (third-person singular simple present uniforms, present participle uniforming, simple past and past participle uniformed)

1. (transitive) To clothe in a uniform.

Translations

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French uniforme, from Latin ?nif?rmis.

Pronunciation 1

• IPA^(key): /?y.ni?f?rm/
• Hyphenation: uni?form

Noun

uniform n (plural uniformen, diminutive uniformpje n)

1. Uniform; a distinctive outfit. [from 18th c.]

Derived terms

• politie-uniform

Descendants

• Afrikaans: uniform

Pronunciation 2

• IPA^(key): /?yni?f?rm/
• Hyphenation: uni?form
• Rhymes: -?rm

Adjective

uniform (comparative uniformer, superlative uniformst)

1. Uniform. [from 16th c.]

Inflection

Descendants

• Afrikaans: uniform

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

uniform m or f (definite singular uniforma or uniformen, indefinite plural uniformer, definite plural uniformene)

1. a uniform

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

uniform f (definite singular uniforma, indefinite plural uniformer, definite plural uniformene)

1. a uniform

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /u??i.f?rm/

Noun

uniform m inan

1. (rare) uniform

Declension

Synonyms

• mundur, mundurek

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ?nif?rmis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?u.ni?form/

Adjective

uniform m or n (feminine singular uniform?, masculine plural uniformi, feminine and neuter plural uniforme)

1. uniform

Declension

Related terms

Swedish

Etymology

From Latin uniformis.

Pronunciation

Noun

uniform c

1. Uniform; a distinctive outfit.

Declension

References

• uniform in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB) (noun)
• uniform in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB) (adjective)